The little city that roared. Vergennes leaders beg the question: Can you trust the government?

By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian

posted December 16, 2005

Vergennes may be the smallest city in Vermont, but that’s not stopping it from picking a fight with state and federal officials over how many social services the community should host.

The city of 2,800 residents is fighting a battle on two fronts, both of which are putting key aides in the Douglas administration on the defensive.

City officials’ Nov. 29 rejection of plans by the state and two local nonprofit mental health providers to open a 10-bed “subacute” treatment center has sparked new questions about Gov. Jim Douglas’ ambitious plan to close the state’s lone psychiatric hospital in Waterbury and find the money to fund programs like the one proposed in Vergennes to make it happen.

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